IT Manager

Alternate Concepts, Inc. (ACI) and Herzog Transit Services, Inc. (HTSI), collectively the ACI/Herzog Joint Venture (AHJV), along with key subcontractors, are seeking applicants for the Hudson Bergen Light Rail operation located in Hudson County, New Jersey. ACI was founded in 1989 with its corporate office in Boston, MA, and Herzog in 1969 with corporate offices in St. Joseph, MO, and Fort Worth, TX. Combined, the companies provide FRA/FTA-compliant transportation, equipment maintenance, dispatching, right-of-way maintenance, facility maintenance, and dispatching services for 20 distinct client properties. In addition to operating and maintaining the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, the Joint Venture currently operates the Tren Urbano heavy rail service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and CTDOT’s Hartford intercity service in Connecticut.

About the Role

The IT Manager is responsible for the leadership, availability, security, and continuous improvement of AHJV's information technology environment supporting the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail operations and maintenance program. Reporting to the Asset Manager, the Manager directs IT personnel and vendors; develops and executes technology plans; manages infrastructure, applications, data, cybersecurity, budgets, assets, and service delivery; and provides hands-on escalation support for a 24-hour transit operation. The position works closely with AHJV leadership, NJ TRANSIT, corporate IT, department managers, and technology partners to maintain business continuity, reduce technology risk, and ensure systems, configurations, credentials, and documentation remain current and under appropriate AHJV control.

Responsibilities

• IT Leadership and Strategy: Develop, maintain, and execute a multi-year information technology plan aligned with AHJV operational requirements, contract commitments, cybersecurity needs, business priorities, and equipment replacement cycles.
• Service Delivery: Manage day-to-day IT services and the user-support function, establish priorities and service expectations, monitor open issues, communicate status, and ensure timely resolution and appropriate escalation.
• 24/7 Operational Support: Maintain effective coverage and escalation arrangements for critical business and operations-support systems, including after-hours response when outages or technology failures may affect safety, service, customers, or business continuity.
• Infrastructure and Networks: Oversee the planning, installation, configuration, monitoring, maintenance, and replacement of servers, endpoints, LAN/WAN, wireless networks, firewalls, VPNs, access points, cellular routers, printers, mobile devices, office phones, and related infrastructure.
• Systems and Applications: Evaluate, select, implement, license, integrate, and support enterprise and transit-specific applications, including collaboration, asset and maintenance management, reporting, database, and operational-support platforms.
• IT/OT Coordination: Coordinate with Communications, Signals, Power, Facilities, Operations, and technology vendors where information technology interfaces with operational technology; maintain clear ownership, change-control, access, and cybersecurity boundaries.
• Cybersecurity: Establish and enforce appropriate security controls, including multi-factor authentication, least-privilege access, endpoint protection, patching, vulnerability management, logging, monitoring, security awareness, and timely remediation of identified risks.
• Identity and Access Management: Administer and periodically review user, privileged, remote, and physical-access permissions; ensure prompt access changes for new hires, transfers, separations, and vendors; and investigate unauthorized access or system overrides.
• Incident and Problem Management: Lead the technical response to significant IT incidents, coordinate internal and vendor resources, issue stakeholder updates, restore service, document root cause, and track corrective and preventive actions to completion.
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: Maintain and test backups, recovery procedures, redundancy, emergency contacts, and technology continuity plans; conduct periodic exercises and close identified gaps.
• Configuration, Credential, and Knowledge Control: Maintain current network diagrams, IP and interface records, system configurations, administrative credentials, licenses, warranties, vendor contacts, procedures, and support history in secure AHJV-controlled repositories. Reduce single-person and single-vendor dependencies through documentation and cross-training.
• Technology Asset Management: Maintain an accurate inventory of hardware, software, licenses, warranties, assigned users, spares, and locations; establish lifecycle and replacement schedules; and ensure secure reuse, transfer, and disposal of technology assets.
• Budget and Procurement: Prepare and administer the IT operating and capital budgets, develop technical specifications and scopes of work, obtain and evaluate quotations, support purchase orders, validate invoices, and forecast upcoming technology expenditures.
• Vendor and Contract Management: Manage technology vendors, consultants, service agreements, warranties, and support contracts; establish measurable deliverables, monitor performance, address service gaps, and coordinate escalations.
• Project and Change Management: Lead technology projects from planning through closeout, including requirements, scope, schedule, cost, risk, testing, implementation, user acceptance, training, change control, and turnover documentation.
• Data Governance and Reporting: Promote data quality, integrity, availability, retention, and security. Oversee database queries, data cleaning, and the development of useful dashboards and reports using tools such as SQL, Power BI, and Excel.
• Policies, Compliance, and Audit Support: Develop, maintain, communicate, and enforce IT policies and procedures; support contractual, regulatory, cybersecurity, privacy, records, and audit requirements; and track findings and corrective actions.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Serve as the primary AHJV management point of contact for IT matters and participate in internal and external meetings with leadership, NJ TRANSIT, corporate IT, users, and vendors. Provide concise status, risk, and decision briefings.
• Safety and Field Support: Follow AHJV safety, security, driving, and site-access requirements while supporting technology located in offices, maintenance facilities, stations, vehicles, and other areas throughout the HBLR service territory.
• Supervisory Responsibilities:
  • Personnel Leadership: Directly supervise IT Specialist(s) and provide functional oversight of assigned contractors and consultants.
  • Workforce Management: Plan staffing and coverage, assign and verify work, approve schedules within delegated authority, and maintain effective after-hours escalation and on-call arrangements.
  • Performance and Development: Participate in hiring; establish expectations; coach, train, and evaluate personnel; address performance matters; and maintain individual development and succession plans.
  • Team Readiness: Ensure cross-training, documented procedures, safe work practices, and clear ownership so essential services remain supported during absences, emergencies, and transitions.
• Other Duties: Cooperatively and efficiently perform related tasks and duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related field is required.
• At least seven years of progressive IT experience, including three years in a supervisory or management capacity, is required.
• Experience supporting high-availability or 24-hour operations is strongly preferred.
• Experience in rail, transit, transportation, utilities, or other critical infrastructure is preferred.
• An equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible experience may be considered.

Skills

• Leadership: Proven ability to lead technical personnel, service providers, and cross-functional teams in a high-availability operating environment.
• IT Operations: Strong knowledge of enterprise infrastructure, endpoint administration, servers, networking, wireless, firewalls, VPNs, cloud services, telephony, backup, and recovery.
• Cybersecurity: Working knowledge of identity and access management, endpoint security, vulnerability management, patching, logging, incident response, risk assessment, and security policy.
• Microsoft and Business Platforms: Advanced ability with Microsoft 365 applications and administration concepts, including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, and Visio.
• Data and Reporting: Ability to interpret data, maintain data quality, query databases, and build or oversee management dashboards and reports; practical knowledge of Power BI, Excel, and SQL.
• Transit and Integrated Systems: Ability to learn, oversee, and support transit-specific software and hardware and to coordinate responsibly where IT systems interface with operational technology.
• Facility Technology: Knowledge of the general operation and support requirements of video surveillance, access control, building management systems, mobile devices, and field communications.
• Service Management: Ability to prioritize competing requests, manage incident and problem resolution, measure service performance, and explain complex systems in clear terms to end users.
• Project, Budget, and Vendor Management: Demonstrated ability to develop scopes and budgets, manage projects and contracts, evaluate proposals, control costs, and hold vendors accountable for deliverables.
• Communication: Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing and to prepare executive, technical, audit, and departmental reports and correspondence.
• Judgment and Organization: Ability to make sound independent decisions within the scope of responsibility, protect confidential information, work under pressure, meet deadlines, and adapt to changing operational priorities.
• Customer and Stakeholder Relations: Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, management, clients, technology partners, contractors, and public-agency stakeholders.
• Language Skills: Ability to speak, read, and write English in a work setting. Ability to interpret safety rules, technical manuals, procedures, contracts, and operating instructions. Ability to write clear policies, reports, correspondence, and presentations and to speak effectively before groups.
• Mathematical Skills: Ability to manage budgets, forecasts, rates, percentages, ratios, and cost comparisons and to draw and interpret graphs, metrics, and tabular data sets.
• Reasoning Ability: Ability to diagnose complex problems, evaluate risk, balance operational priorities, and make timely decisions when information is incomplete or conditions are changing. Ability to interpret instructions presented in written, oral, diagram, and schedule form.

Benefits

• Paid-time-off
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Employer-paid life and AD&D insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Voluntary employee-paid benefits include supplemental life and AD&D insurance, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident coverage

Pay

$100,000 annually